Depends how often you go. But I guess the joy is, once the initial outlay is made, you can pretty much go as often as you like without it costing anything.
If you aren't going to go more than once a year, I personally wouldn't bother investing unless you just really want to camp. If you want to go away a few times a year, then yes, camping is great. We can decide to leave at the last minute and decide to cancel too, if the weather turns nasty. We free camp a lot.
30 second tents are expensive and honestly, it's still easier with two people!
Would you consider hiring a camper trailer? Just to try it all out. Then you don't need a separate cooker, mattress, washing bowl blah blah. And then you can see if you like camping.

We have made lots of lovely friends camping. You can't help but meet the neighbours. And if there are kids involved, they just gravitate towards each other and make instant camping friends.